Tragedy of the African Cinderella [Black Book3]✔

18.

"You're happy," Ace remarked.

"Yeah," without thinking, she rushed to hug him. "Thank you. Thank you so much for being there," He didn't hug her back but she didn't care so much about it. The most essential thing is, he was there with her and cared.

"We're going out today."

"Where to?" He didn't answer back. He just grabbed his towel and walked to the bathroom.

It felt like she was in paradise with nothing to worry about. Ace was a little temperamental sometimes but he made her happy. Now, what had life to offer them? Will they keep living together till further notice or will he have enough of her at some point in time and kick her out?
Ace's phone began ringing. She knew not which button to press or whether to touch it at all so she simply called out for him but he seems to not have heard.

The phone stopped for a while but then set on blowing her ears again.
Nora held up the sophisticated gadget, battling on whether to tap on the green or red screen display. When her fingers finally decided to act faster than her head, she heard a tiny voice from the other end.

"Hello? Ace. Ace listen, come back home sooner so we can settle our discrepancies and finally behave like the father and son that we ought to be. I need you right now, the family needs you and the company as well. The company's experiencing bankru--" the person sighed. "Just come home, ok? Will love to explain it better tête à tête,"

Nora didn't reply. It wasn't her place to. The call was Ace's and from his dad so she didn't rep-- "Ace? Please talk to me. I know you're mad--"

"Nora?" The phone slipped out of her hand at Ace's unexpected call. "Who was that?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to answer it. Didn't mean to break it. It just came on and...the man started talking. I didn't say anything to him. I just...just--" she ranted.

"Shhh. It's fine. I just need you to tell me who called."

She twisted her lips from side to side, uncertainty crowning her physique. "Your dad."

"What did he say?"

~••~

The day was almost magical if it hadn't been for her mind poking at the morning's event every now and then. With that, even the amazing sites he made her discover didn't look so appealing as it should have been for a first-timer.

"You want it?" He asked, after noticing her extended stare at a mannequin doll in an elegant white robe dotted with pellets of fake diamond around its collar. It looked awfully short which wasn't in her zone of comfort. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even realized she was staring at it.

"No, Not at all. I was just..." Absentmindedly viewing through it. She almost poured. "Admiring."

"Admiring is wanting. Let's get it for you." She protested but it neither slowed him down nor stopped him from pulling her into the store.

"I'm probably only going to put it on in my grave or wedding reception, whichever comes first," she said while staring at the fancy plastic bag in her hold.

"Why?"

"Too expensive, Ace. This is too expensive. It's half a hundred thousand francs, are you aware of that?"

He shrugged, "I am. I'll tell you when to put it on though. I have a good timing in mind." He winked.

•
"I still can't believe he said nothing," Ace faced her squarely after halting her from stepping out of the car. "You've been awfully distant since the call. Tell me, what did he say to you?"

Nora's eyes turned glassy making her turn her head to the side window. "Talk to me,"

"I knew all these were too good to be true, honestly," she turned to him with tear-streaked eyes and a sniffle. "You have plans on leaving soon, right?"

"No," then he thought. "Well, yeah, I have plans on leaving the country but not anytime soon. Is that why you're crying?"

"You probably would have to think about it again; your dad wants you home as soon as possible, he said something about a company and how you both have to settle your relationship diffe--"

"Bullshit!"

Silence roamed through the air until Nora slit it with, "You should go home."

"Who are you to tell me what to do? You don't tell me what to...No one tells me what to do ok?" His voice brutally rose. "Just get the fuckin' bags to the room,"

"I care about you, Ace...a lot."

After Nora's departure, Ace sat back to reminisce, not about what she said to him but on how rude he was to her. And it killed him. He admitted his sister right for once; he was such a brute, hopeless romantic, and a nuisance but there was nothing he could actually do about it. Things which made him him; unique.

"Nora," he called once in the embrace of the empty room. "I'm sorry for talking to you that way," he continued after stopping in front of the bathroom door where he figured she must be. "I was just so pissed at the mention of my--" he sighed.

"I'll like to talk to you when you done...with whatever you're doing okay?" When he got no reply, he knocked and called out yet again but still, the result never changed.

She probably need some alone time. He thought.

But then, five minutes was more than enough for her to have alone time.
"Nora, are you ok?" He flattened his ears on the door. The shower wasn't running, the tap either. There was nothing but dead silence.

"I'm opening the door." He warned whilst slowly shoving it open. Upon completion, Ace was quickly taken aback at the sight before him. "Nora! What the fuck!"

Nora laid down on her abdomen in a tiny pool of blood which Ace realized it originated from her nose and forehead. Panic taking control, he placed his quivering fingers on neck. "Jesus! Help!"

Uncertainty obliged him to try her heartbeat, after flipping her on her back, which instantly shot a seed of hope in his entirety.

"Somebody please, help!" He cried, carrying the limp figure on his way out.

~••~

"Mama, water no dey this house oh and hungry di do me," Rose chastised.

"Don't be idiotic! If you like, don't go and fetch your own water and have a rich and good looking boyfriend. Esonghori!*"

* = Means 'trouble' in the Bayangi (a tribe in the southwest region) mother tongue.

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